Senator Sanders and the Fixed Pie Fallacy
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Who do you hate more Jesse? Blas or wimon?
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson
I dont have a afro i have a amerifro
i dont hate anywon. i juss know whut gods davine orda is and da whie man is da closess thing to godlyness
people wouldnt mind havingg a little less if they didnt have to worry about bankrupt over a medical emergency, higher education, etc. You know things our counterparts across the Atlantic enjoy.
We see the big picture but miss the deltails as always. Ther power will be distributed differently no matter how hard top fights.
We see the big picture but miss the deltails as always. Ther power will be distributed differently no matter how hard top fights.
Last question Jesse. Would you perform oral sex on a whie man if god comandeered you two?
And they are all correct.
Income/wealth inequality are distractions from actual problems poor people are facing.
This is how wealth has always worked, even during redistributionists' golden age. Wealth compounds on itself, so the more you have the easier it is to get more.How about we just say the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer relative to the rich then.
Any way you put it, it's still problematic that the lion's share of gains in wealth are going to the rich.
Most importantly though the mere possession of wealth by somebody else doesn't preclude or prevent one from getting it. There are other much more obvious and serious impediments to wealth accumulation for the poor and middle class, but jealous redistributionists refuse to let the conversation go in that direction. Someone else has more than me, and that's bad. End of discussion.
Nah, growth hasn't helped the vast majority of people over the past 30 years. Almost all the new pie goes to an extreme minority.
0.01 owns almost as much as 90%, how is growth helping these people past esoteric reasoning? How is poverty rising or remaining stagnant while the economy has grown with little exception for the same period?
And just to be clear, you're implying that lack of wealth isn't an issue poor people face? Seems like that's the entire thing about poverty.
Not sure how to take this from the left...
China industrializing won't save the world
whats this gotta do with his opinion?
OCTOBER 15, 2015 11:49AM
Senator Sanders and the Fixed Pie Fallacy
By CHELSEA GERMAN
“The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.” Senator Bernie Sanders first said those words in 1974 and has been repeating them ever since. Senator Sanders is not alone in his belief. Three out of four Americans agree with the statement, “Today it’s really true that the rich just get richer while the poor get poorer.”
Senator Sanders is half right: the rich are getting richer. However, his assertion that the poor are becoming poorer is incorrect. The poor are becoming richer as well.
Economist Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institute showed that between 1979 and 2010, the real (inflation-adjusted) after-tax income of the top 1% of U.S. income-earners grew by an impressive 202%. He also showed that the real after-tax income of the bottom fifth of income-earners grew by 49%. All groups made real income gains. While the rich are making gains at a faster pace, both the rich and the poor are in fact becoming richer.
In addition to these measurable real income gains, decreases in prices have given the poor increased purchasing power, helping to raise living standards for the worst off in society. As a result of falling prices such as for groceries and material goods, along with gains in real income, Americans have more income left after basic expenses.
Technology has also become cheaper, improving our lives in unexpected ways. For example, consider the spread of cell phones. There was a time when only the wealthiest Americans could afford one. Today, over 98% of Americans have a cellular subscription, and the rise of smart phones has made these devices more useful than ever.
Unfortunately, progress has been uneven. In those areas of the economy where competition is hobbled, such as education, housing, and healthcare, prices continue to increase.
Still, the percentage of the population classified as living in relative poverty has decreasedover time. Why then do three quarters of Americans, including Senator Sanders, believe that the poor are “getting poorer?”
A simple logical error underlies Sanders’ belief. If we assume that wealth is a fixed pie, then the more slices the rich get, the fewer are left over for the poor. In other words, people can only better themselves at the expense of others. In the world of the fixed pie, if we observe the rich becoming richer, then it must be because other people are becoming poorer. Fortunately, in the real world, the pie is not fixed. U.S. GDP is growing, and it’s growing faster than the population.
Poverty remains a pressing issue, but Senator Sanders is incorrect when he says that the poor are becoming poorer. In the words of HumanProgress.org advisory board member Professor Deirdre McCloskey,
The rich got richer, true. But millions more have gas heating, cars, smallpox vaccinations, indoor plumbing, cheap travel, rights for women, lower child mortality,adequate nutrition, taller bodies, doubled life expectancy, schooling for their kids, newspapers, a vote, a shot at university, and respect.
Senator Sanders and the Fixed Pie Fallacy
Well, if you have 25 billion dollars and you gain another five billion over the next two years while I have 10 cents and gain another two cents over that same time I guess we both are technically getting richer.
Problem solved America! 
Lol. Literally every point you made has been rebutted in the OP.
And no, that's not what I am saying. What I am saying is lack of wealth is a consequence of the other problems poor people are facing. Arbitrary redistribution won't help with job security, access to healthcare, education, job training, housing, child care, anti-labor cronyism, etc etc ad nauseum, no matter how much you claim otherwise. In my experience, and from what I've seen in history, the best way to address a problem.... is to address a problem, not to use that problem as moral justification for some alternative agenda. If you want to cut down the rich, own that objective and make it clear.... stop piggybacking that onto the worker's plight to gain misplaced sympathy for your cause.